“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” Coco Chanel

Trend Report F/W 12: New York (The Decades)

Now that New York Fashion Week is over, its time to round up the major and minor trends for the Fall/Winter 2012-2013 season.

Hosting more than 150 shows, NYFW is the biggest in terms of numbers. Therefore its no surprise that there is a real variety in terms of blooming trends every season. In a nutshell; 40’s as a decade, orange, gold and blue & black combination as colors, leather as the material, collars & buttons as details, peplum & cocoon as shapes and plaid as the print, took the lead. As always, Alexander Wang and Proenza Schouler were the breathtakers whereas established brands such as Michael Kors or Calvin Klein didn’t disappoint.

40’s, which can be described briefly as the “Make, Do and Mend” era, witnessed the Second World War that resulted in a dramatic change of life, including the clothing. The female role had changed which led women to go out of their homes for war duty, hence the style of this decade can be defined as conservative and military. Ava Gardner, Ingrid Bergmann, Veronica Lake and Rita Hayworth were the style icons who portray both the simple and natural look and the extreme Hollywood glamour of the 1940’s. Button details, knee length skirts, two-piece suits, shirt dresses, military coats, trench coats, padded shoulders, turtleneck tops, slacks and rompers can all be correlated with this era.

Given the information above, its more than obvious that the designers are inspired by the 1940’s style when creating their F/W 2012-2013 collections.

Some classical, some futuristic – military style coats adorned with huge buttons captured the runway

Lenghts of the skirts were immobilized at knee-lenght / no higher, no lower…

Usually an enemy of delight and creativity, two-piece suits made a come back this seaon in more playful shapes

The sole uniform of mechanics masqueraded as the back bone of collections; even an inspiration for one (Cynthia Rowley) all by itself. Preferred for its comfort back in the day, rompers are the hot spares for the brave nowadays

It doesn’t matter which part of your body you unveil as long as you turtle up, and we don’t mind if you are wearing a night gown, or a pullover under your jacket – we just do not want to see your neck this winter.

Of course you wouldn’t expect just one decade dictating the whole season, especially keeping in mind that it is almost impossible to carve out gowns with 1940’s leading the way since it has zero effect on haute couture besides pumping up more glamour in Hollywood; ergo, enter 1920’s. We especially had a huge The Great Gatsby moment at the Tadashi Shoji show for sure.

Bias cut or flapper dresses with no emphesize on the waistline, flaunting the hips with fringes and deifying the chest with deep V necks as a blank canvas for pearl necklaces.

image source: elle

To read the trend report for New York about the color dominations, click here

To read the trend report for New York about the prints and materials which are mainstream for the season, click here